yogurt

Before all you jerks out there get into the Christmas frenzy on November 1, let’s take a moment to enjoy yet another offering of fall. Since, ya know…today IS Halloween! Chobani has been good enough to offer us pumpkin spice yogurt. And it is delicious. Yogurt used to be one of those things I ate because I knew it was good for me and added things like chocolate sprinkles to make it taste better. BUT NOW I can actually enjoy my yogurt AND appreciate fall flavors.

Of course, we could have the pumpkin spice vs. pumpkin argument. I will admit that pumpkin will always trump pumpkin spice. However, it still has the essence of fall infused into the creamy yogurt. The spice flavors are definitely there and it reminds me of a pumpkin pie filling, just a little creamier. It’s not too heavy, but it is a good snack that will satisfy. Of course, in true ES fashion, I’ve started to make a list of concoctions to make with Pumpkin Spice Yogurt. Here we go:

Put it in the mini graham cracker crust pies and freeze – top with whipped cream

Cupcakes: a man’s food. Something you hear every day right? Right…and you see plenty of men on Cupcake Wars. But then you put beer in them . Now we’re talking. Previously, the only way I knew how to make cupcakes was with the contents of a cardboard box. But alas, I’ve matured. And through this maturation I bring to you Chocolate Stout Cupcakes.

These cupcakes are nearly 100 percent made from scratch. Beginning with the batter (containing an entire bottle of my own Cafe Vanilla Con Leche Stout), the cupcakes also include stout-infused ganache, and cream cheese frosting. And guess what? As most of my original recipes are—they are healthy cupcakes! Instead of butter in the batter, we used applesauce (we had to save the butter for the cream cheese frosting). Thank the g/f for preventing me from ruining the frosting by trying to use low-fat cream cheese.

The end result: moist chocolate cupcakes with rich ganache filling and topped with creamy frosting. Add a glass of milk and you have a match made in heaven. There was concern about using the applesauce rather than the butter, but I couldn’t tell a major difference. In fact, adding some cinnamon to the batter complements the overall flavor and it even stands out a bit. I took the cupcakes to work for the true test. Everyone loved them. And so should you. You’re welcome.

Vanilla Con Leche Stout Cupcakes

I love cookies. L.O.V.E. Since I like to eat them frequently (as in multiple times a day), I’m always attempting to make healthier versions of old favorites like chocolate chip or oatmeal. So I was stoked when I saw this Sun Maid recipe for Really Good Low-Fat Raisin Oatmeal Cookies in honor of Heart Health Month (which was February, but shouldn’t we always promote heart health?) I tried them — and they are really good. But since I can’t leave well enough alone, I made a few little tweaks to the recipe and now I think they’re even better.

So here you have it: Really Good but Even Better Low-Fat Raisin Oatmeal Cookies. And even with my tweaks they still come out to about 60 calories per cookie, so I don’t feel too guilty about the fact that I ate like 5 of them out of the oven and about 5 cookies worth of dough as I was making them.

I recently took a new job that requires me to go to work every day. If you’ll remember, I started working from home over a year and a half ago. I was nervous about eating ice cream every 15 minutes with such easy access to my freezer.

I manged to work through it, loving the freedom from schedules and getting the opportunity to make my own lunch – fresh – every day. While I miss my pajamas, I adore my new gig and also found some new ways to deal with the distance from my own kitchen.

Thermos Nissan Stainless Steel Backpack Hydration Bottle

This is seriously no fucking joke. This thermos keeps things so fucking cold that I’m nervous this device is illegal. Ice cubes stay frozen for over 24 hours. It is legit and will keep you from constant runs to the water cooler. (It’s better just to IM your coworkers anyway.)(Photo: Meijer)

Chobani 32oz Greek Yogurt

I’m not gonna eat breakfast before I leave for work. I’m just not. Instead, I keep a big tub of yogurt in the office fridge and pour a few spoonfuls into my from-home bowl; I also brought in a spoon. The giant portion makes it easy to eat however much I’m hungry for and cuts down on all of packaging that comes with individual serving containers.(Photo: Chobani)

Endless Simmer is expanding our food travel coverage to bring you reports from cities around the country. First stop: Philly. Enjoy Part 1 in our series of 10 incredible edibles the ES team found while stuffing our faces through the city of brotherly love.

I’ll admit…it’s hard for me to get excited about beets. They are nice in a simple salad and I certainly get why vegetarians hold them in high esteem, since they add heft and substance to a meatless dish. Still, they’ve never been something I would go out of my way to order.

But how could I resist when the menu promised Bloody Beet Steak?

This appetizer, available at The Farm and Fisherman, has been generating buzz on the local Philly restaurant scene, and for good reason. It’s not your everyday beet salad. The Bloody Beet Steak, shown above, is about the diameter of a CD and comes accompanied by homemade yogurt and a pan jus, under a layer of (probably unnecessary) amaranth. But it’s the preparation of the beet itself that really makes the dish really unique.

I don’t consider myself a gourmet chef or anything, but I can make some pretty delicious magic happen in the kitchen now and then. I will admit that in the four years I spent away at college, I made some pretty questionable food choices. Often. And not just when I was inebriated, although I will admit that three flaming Dr. Peppers and a few Malibu and pineapples (and possibly a shot of Aftershock from an ice block luge) will lead to some horrifying 2am take-out orders. So this list isn’t comprehensive by a long shot — but I can guaran-freakin-tee you that I won’t be eating any of these things any time soon. Meaning ever, ever again.

10. Bread in a Can

Okay, maybe this one isn’t that bad. I mean, it’s not like I was eating the plain variety, because that would just be gross — I only ate the raisin. With cream cheese. But it’s bread — in a can. The ingredients themselves aren’t that heinous, but the idea of canning bread just seems, kind of, wrong? Okay so maybe I’d eat this one again. After a bottle of Strawberry Hill (like anyone drank that after 12th grade, pshaw).

9. Spray Butter

The label is misleading — show me one person who actually has a hard time believing this isn’t butter. But you’ve got to make choices in life. If you want to avoid gaining the dreaded “freshman 15,” you can either make healthy choices and eat real food, or go with hydrogenated spray oil masquerading as butter to save some calories. Or cut out the alcohol and eat actual butter. Either way. This is best when sprayed on some Light Wonder Bread with a slice of Kraft Singles Fat-Free American “cheese” and then nuked in the microwave for 10 seconds to make a lovely “light grilled cheese sandwich.”

8. Congealed Nachos

Fast food nachos are all fine and well, I’m not saying I’d never eat them again (because I totally would). I’d just never eat them 3 days after their inception, cold and congealed in a Styrofoam container dug out of the back of the fridge. Because money’s tight. Meaning you’re out of cash and the credit card machine at the pizza joint is down so you can’t use mom’s Visa. My nachos of choice were from Freebirds (no BBQ sauce!), so they definitely qualified as delicious before their demise. An empty jar of leftover pickle juice makes a great complimentary beverage here. (photo by Newbirth35)

7. Copiously Frosted Fast Food Desserts (Choose Your Poison)

Cinnabon® rolls, Dunkin’ Donuts fritters, Winchell’s donuts – choose your poison. Sometimes a tooth-achingly sweet, gooey confection is in order — when you’re downing 3 cups of coffee an hour to pull an all-nighter studying, you just need the sugar rush. And the trans-fat. My artery-clogger of choice was Woodstock’s Cinnabread™ – basically a cinnamon roll on pizza dough, slathered in frosting and served with an additional cup of frosting to dip into. This doesn’t fall into the “That’s so gross I can’t believe I ate that” category, more in the “How did I eat that regularly and not have a coronary?” category. Because this 18-year-old wasn’t too familiar with the term “moderation.” (photo by hullam)

6. Frozen Broccoli in Canned Cheese Soup

This was a favorite during my “vegetarian” period – a bag of frozen broccoli, nuked in the microwave, topped with a can of Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese Soup. And yes, the ingredients in this one are terrifying. Commonly consumed with a can of Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper.

Fall is almost here and with that we are letting up on the fruit in the Poptails-a bit. But what we are not letting up on is the booze.

Get your mixing hands ready for this mudslide with a twist. We went and added a banana in the mix. The sweetness of the banana neutralizes any tang the vanilla yogurt body may have, and adds a bit of creaminess to the mixture. While we were at it, we also threw in some grated chocolate for added flavor and texture.

There you have it, enjoy your Endless Simmer twist-up of the traditional mudslide, in a Poptail.